One thing about conferences. I was noticing as I sat and listened
to these three men speak, oh, how I wished I could preach
like them. I've thought about that all day. Not about how I can be any better
at what I'm doing, but how God uses men. These three men who have come
before us, they're just men, just as I am. And they've come before us and
spoken with experience. They haven't just been somebody
up here talking to you. I can tell it was from your heart.
I can tell it was something God has done in you. Lord helped me tonight to share
with you something He's done in me. I invite you to join me in the
Book of Ezekiel. We celebrated today. Another year has gone by. Another year this country has
been what we declared it to be from what
was at one time part of England. What a blessing it is that you
and I have been given to be brought up and to have dwelt here in
this land, in this time, and in this age. We are a people who come from
many backgrounds. But in this land, we are called
the American people. We declared our independence,
men fought and died for it. Men from all kinds of backgrounds
who had come from all over the world to live here in what is
called America. Many different countries, but
now we are all American people. Our forefathers who built this
great land were blessed by the Almighty in building it to what
it is today. Now I'm not up here to argue
or to talk about the politics of the raising of this nation
of its people, but rather I'm here to speak to you this evening
about the one who is the author and the finisher of raising all
nations. This one is spoken of in John
1, verse 1, where it says, in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him,
and without Him was not anything made that was made. And in verse
14, it's very clear about this one, who is the Word, where it
says, and the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full
of grace and truth." This one who is the author and
the finisher of all nations, who rules over everything that
was created. In our scripture reading, said,
beware of those. Those who come in sheep's clothing
is what it was talking about in another set of scriptures. As ravening wolves, desiring
to devour the sheep of God. This one is called Emmanuel. And that means God with us. I
believe it was Kevin, who mentioned that earlier this morning. God
with us. God in the flesh. The God-man. In Matthew 121, we read this. It says, and she, speaking of
the Virgin Mary, shall bring forth a son. And thou shalt call
his name Jesus, for he shall save his people. Not maybe, not
might, not possibly. You cannot misinterpret that
phrase at all. It says, he shall. You spoke
about decrees. That's what that is. That's a
decree. He shall save his people, plain and simple. There is no
question about it. There are no empty seats in heaven. Every
seat will be filled. And when that last seat is filled,
As I believe one of the brothers mentioned, that's it. It's done.
The decree's been fulfilled. It's over. For the world. He shall save his people. I remember
Pastor Don Fortner standing up here one time and he was talking
about a verse similar to that. And he's reading that and he
says, somebody came up to me asking,
Pastor, I know that's the milk of the word, but what about the
death behind that? What does that mean? He said,
and I'm not saying exactly how he did it. He did it much better.
But he says, I think it means he shall save his people. That's
about as deep as you can get with that. He shall save his
people. My message tonight is for sinners.
If you are one who is working out your own righteousness, trying
to do whatever good you can, turn over whatever leaf you think
you must turn over, exercise your own so-called free will,
make a decision, whatever it is you think you must do to be
saved, then what you're about to hear is probably foolishness. But if God has brought conviction
with a new heart for you, I believe this will be sweet
news. In Luke 5.32, our Lord says this. He says, I came not
to call the righteous. That's those who go about trying
to do their own salvation. Those who work it out either
in walking to the front of the aisle, or praying a certain prayer,
or feeding the poor, or doing all the good things, quit drinking,
quit smoking, quit cussing, get in this tub of water behind me. Whatever you think you might
be doing for your salvation, that's what he's talking about
here. He says, I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to redemption, to
repentance. Is there a sinner here tonight?
Will you hear the word of salvation? Oh, how I pray so. There are
only two different peoples in all that have walked this earth.
Those who are dead in trespasses and sin, following their path
to destruction, and those who were dead in trespasses and sin. and now have been made alive.
Quickened is how the word of God says. Quickened. Quickened
in the Savior. Christ Jesus the Lord. A people
who will spend eternity in His holy presence. In Ezekiel, we
are given a shadow, a type, a vision to present this fact of two peoples
to us. And I'll try to read this account
with little comment coming to my point. and the title of this
message at the end. Would you join me in chapter
37, verse 1? The hand of the Lord was upon
me, writes Ezekiel. and carried me out in the Spirit
of the Lord, and set me down in the midst of the valley which
was full of bones." Now, every time I read that, I think of
this. Have you ever been out on Highway 50 in Nevada? I know I said I wasn't going
to comment, but I can't help it. Highway 50 is called the loneliest highway
in the world for a reason. You go through one valley, Which
is probably 40 miles, 50 miles wide and you can see from one
ridge to the other. And there's nothing in between.
Except for brush and a highway that goes through it. And then
you get over that valley and there's another one. And then
you get over that one and there's another one. It's about as desolate
as you can be. Try riding it on a motorcycle
sometime. You get kind of worried about
breaking down out there. As things go through your mind,
you start thinking, you know, if I break down out here, I'm
going to be stuck for a long time out in the sun. That's what
I think about when I read this vision, only instead of brush,
there's bones. It's full of bones. Verse 2,
And cause me to pass by them round about. And behold, there
were very many in the open valley. And lo, they were very dry. I
recall a time when a pastor standing here was describing the original
language, that very dry that had been interpreted into English,
actually means crusty white. So dry that if
you pick it up, it brittles and it turns to dust. There is no
life in it whatsoever. You're not going to get any DNA
out of those bones. And he said unto me, Son of man,
verse 3, can these bones live? And I answered and said, O Lord
God, thou knowest. And again he said unto me, prophesy
upon these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the
word of the Lord. Thus saith the Lord God unto
these bones, behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and
ye shall live. And I will lay sinews upon you,
and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin,
and put breath in you, and ye shall live, and ye shall know
that I am the Lord. So I prophesied as I was commanded.
And as I prophesied, there was a noise. And behold, a shaking,
and the bones came together, bone to his bone. And when I
beheld, lo, the sinews of flesh came upon them, and the skin
covered them above, and there was no breath in them. Then he
said unto me, prophesy unto the wind. Prophesy, son of man, and
say to the wind, thus saith the Lord God, come from the four
winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may
live. So I prophesied as he commanded
me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood
up with their feet, an exceeding great army. Then he said unto
me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold,
they say, our bones are dried and our hope is lost. We are
cut off from our parts. Therefore prophesy and say to
them, thus saith the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open
your graves and cause you to come up out of your graves and
bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am the
Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought
you up out of your graves. and shall put my spirit in you,
and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land, then
ye shall know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed
it, saith the Lord." Jonah was swallowed by a whale
and died in the belly of that beast. And when God gave him
life again and spit him out on dry land, what was it he said?
What did he learn through that whole thing? Salvation is of
the Lord. That's the way it is for each
and every one of us, folks. As I said a moment ago, there
are two types of people. Those who are dead in trespasses
and sin, following their path to destruction. and those who
were dead in trespasses and sins. This is what we just saw here
in this description. That's what you and I were at
one time. Lord, let us never forget that. Remind us always
of where you brought us out from. Bring our eyes to your Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, and take our eyes off of ourselves. My people. Oh, for the grace
of God to be His chosen people. Looking back, seeing my condition
at one time, you see, we must be brought to know what we are.
Again, I don't remember which one, but I know one of the pastors
brought this out earlier, how we must be convicted of our sin
before we are brought to the point of calling on a Savior.
We must know that we need a Savior. Not just, oh, I've done a little
bit of sin here, and oh, I've done a little bit of sin there.
I've never sinned like that. Folks, it doesn't matter. We
are all sinners, because that's what we are. That's how we've
come into this world. Dry bones, dead, in trespasses
and sin. How can a dead man get up and
make a decision to come to the Lord? Did Lazarus make a decision? Did he lay there in that grave
for a moment or two thinking about it? Did any of the disciples
sit there on the seashore and say, you know, let me think about
what your offer is there? That was not an offer God made
to those disciples, to those apostles. He said, follow me. He said to Lazarus, come forth. And he came forth. You see, we're
talking about the power of the One who created everything. Preachers get a little irate.
You know what we get irate about? It's about those who stand up
and say that their God is a maybe God. If you'll just maybe make
a decision for me, how dare you call that a God? The word God
means supreme. If you're going to worship God,
worship the true God, one who is truly God, otherwise everything
else is worthless. This all-powerful God. You see, I've been shown, and
every one of God's children will be brought to see the very same
thing, that we deserve His wrath. We have earned His judgment. We were on that path to destruction.
We just didn't know who we truly were. You say, what do you mean by
that, John? Well, see, God's children have always been God's
children. He's loved us from before the
world was. God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit made that covenant that said, I want
a people for myself. And God the Son said, OK, I'll
take care of that. And God the Spirit said, OK,
I'll call them when it's time. But that was all done before
the world was. Everything that was created was for that very
purpose, so that all that the Father would give the Son would
come to Him. We all come into this world deserving
His wrath. We have all earned His judgment.
We've all sinned and come short of the glory of God, yet He has
chosen to have vessels of mercy. He has chosen to make me a vessel
of His mercy. Did you notice in our text the
Lord's decree? Did you notice that He said,
I will open your graves? We've seen, well, maybe some
of you haven't, but there have been enough of them out there.
Horror flicks, horror movies. I remember when I was a kid,
the most scariest thing I saw was a hand come up out of the
grave. It didn't take long before I realized that was just fake. People don't come back from the
dead unless God brings them back from the dead. He says, I will open your graves. He says, I will cause you to
come up out of them. That means that you didn't do
it by your own free will. That means you didn't choose
to have life. God is the one who gave you life. He caused you to come up out
of those graves. He says, I will bring you into
your own land. He says, I will put my spirit
in you. We didn't just make a decision
one day that, OK, I'm going to accept the spirit of God. He
says, I will put it in you. It is I, the Lord, which will
do all these things, He said, and when these things are done,
what? Then shall ye know that I am
the Lord, and that the Lord hath spoken and performed it. In John
17, 9 we read this, I pray for them. This is the true Lord's
Prayer right here in John chapter 17. What people call the Lord's
Prayer was our Lord giving us instructions on how we need to
address the Almighty. Father, hallowed be Thy name.
That's how we need to address Him because He deserves to have
His name declared that way. This is where our Lord got down
on His knees and He prayed to His Father for each and every
one of those that He was given. He says, I pray for them, I pray
not for the world, but for them which Thou hast given Me, for
they are Thine, and all Mine are Thine, and Thine are Mine,
and I am glorified in them. He doesn't pray for the whole
world, does He? That's what He says, I pray for them that Thou
hast given Me. These are promises made to a
certain people, not the whole of mankind, but to a specific
group that he calls my people, a people that are spread throughout
time, a people who are spread throughout nations, a people
who are spread throughout tongues. Well, who are these people? Am
I one? Turn, if you will, to the 10th
chapter of John. Those are good questions to ask.
Not just the first time you hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and
Him crucified, but I ask that question all the time. Lord,
am I one of Yours? You see, we have a conflict in
us, a war going on between the flesh and the spirit. The life
the Lord gives us. We've all got life in us, in
this body. We walk around, we breathe air
and stuff like that. But we come into this world spiritually
dead. We died spiritually in Adam.
When he sinned in that garden, he threw all of mankind into
spiritual death. We were in Adam, as you said
last night. Just like that. We were in him.
Now I'm not putting my sin on Adam's sin. My sin is mine. We all come into this world spiritually
dead, and it takes the power of God to give life. Just as
it took the power of God to give life to those bones, He gives
life to His people. I can tell you this with great
certainty. In John 6.37 it says, All that
the Father giveth me shall come to me, and in Him that cometh
to me I will in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven
not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me.
And this is the Father's will, which hath sent me, that of all
which He hath given me, I should lose nothing, but should raise
it up again the last day." And just to make sure, Just to make
sure he's clear on that, he says it again, and this is the will
of Him that sent me, that everyone would see of the Son, and believe
upon Him, may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up
to last day. In Jeremiah 13, 31, 3, it says
this, The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea,
I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving kindness
I have drawn thee. He's speaking in Jeremiah to
national Israel. National Israel is a picture
of all of God's chosen people. Our Lord didn't give his oracles
to the world. He gave them to a specific people.
And he clearly declares that he didn't give it to them because
they were special, did all kinds of stuff, or great nation, or
whatever. In fact, he declared that they
were the smallest of all the nations around him. The weakest
of all there was. He chose Israel to be a picture,
a type, a shadow of all His chosen people throughout all of time.
Just as this valley of dry bones was a picture of the whole house
of Israel, which He clearly said it was there in the end, He is
talking about His sheep. I love being a sheep. There was a time when John thought
he was a goat and went around living his life just as he wanted
to. Whatever suited John, that worked
out just right. Anybody ever felt like that about
themselves? Everything was just going along
good until the Lord took my legs out from underneath me and made
me blind as a bat just like Paul was on that road. The glory of
God was brought to me when I was brought to this building. To
hear Pastor Gene preach of this very one that I'm speaking of
today, Jesus Christ, God Almighty in the flesh, my substitute. That's what I mean, my substitute.
The one who went to the cross and died in my place. He's speaking about national
Israel. He's talking about His sheep. Look at me, if you will,
at verse 23 of John chapter 10. And Jesus walked in the temple
of Solomon's porch. Then came the Jews round about
Him and said unto Him, How long dost Thou make us to doubt? If
Thou be the Christ, tell us plainly. Are you the Lord? Are you the
Christ? Why are you talking to us in parables? Tell us plainly. Are you the Christ? And Jesus
answered, He says, I told you. He did. He was very clear about
it. And ye believe not. The works that I do, and just
to prove that what I told you is true, He says, the works that
I do in my Father's name, they bear witness. Nobody else was
going around creating and committing the miracles that our Lord and
Savior was, raising the dead, healing the blind. Nobody else
could do that in that time. They bear witness. He showed
them His power, but they couldn't see. And He says it very clear
in verse 26, but ye believe not. Now look carefully, folks. Look
carefully. We're talking about God's people.
We're talking about the people that He says, My people. Ye believe not, because ye are
not of My sheep. That's God's Word. Ooh, that
angers a lot of people. What do you mean? How dare you
say that I can't be one of God's people? I didn't say that. I'm
saying if you go through that doormarked death and you don't
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not one of his sheep. You sure about that, John? Let's
read on. What does it say? As I said unto you, he says,
my sheep, hear my voice. I asked the question a moment
ago, am I one of God's people? Are you asking yourself, am I
one of God's people? Here's the answer, my sheep hear
my voice and I know them and they follow me. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them
out of my hand. My father which gave them me
is greater than all, and no man is able to pluck them out of
my father's hand. I and my father are one. Am I one of his people? Am I one of his sheep? We just
read the sheep are those who hear his word and believe. There's a famous verse in John
3.16 that so many want to look at and say, see here, God does
love the whole world. That's not what it says in John
3.16. Let me read it for you. For God
so loved the world, okay, He loved the world in this way,
that He gave His only begotten Son, well here's the point of
this verse right here. He gave His only begotten Son,
why? That whosoever believeth in Him, That's the key point
to that verse. Whosoever believeth in him should
not perish but have everlasting life. Folks, we can't believe
in someone we've never heard of. If all you've ever heard about
is this Mohammed or little Jesus or little God or whatever, how
can you believe in the true and living God until you've heard
who He is? How are you going to hear unless
God sends a preacher your way? Aren't we thankful? Aren't we
thankful that the Lord must come through rescue? That the Lord must come through
Danville? That the Lord must come through the Dalles? That
the Lord must come through Marysville? And all the other places He must
come through for His people? Aren't we thankful? In Ephesians 2.8 it says, for
by grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves,
it is a gift of God. You see, we can't believe on
God unless he's given us the gift. We can't make a decision
for God because our nature is enmity against God's will, against
his ways. Not of works. And that's what
free willism is. It's a works on man's part. It's
men who declare that I will decide when I want to follow God. I
will decide. That's what free willism is.
And it says right there, not of works lest any man should
boast. How often we've heard so-called Christians that we've
worked with, or some maybe even our own family. I was saved when I made the decision
and walked the aisle. God's people say we were saved
when He chose us and His Son, the Lord Jesus, before the world
was ever made. God the Father looked down, saw
what His Son was going to do, and said, OK, it's done. I know
He'll get it done. And I know He'll do it perfectly. Are you one of His people? I have a couple questions for
you before I close. Do you believe His Word? Everything in this book. God created the worlds and the
heavens. Do you believe His Word from
beginning to end. Romans 3.23, it says this, for
all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. Do you believe?
Romans 3.11 says this, there is none that understandeth, there
is none that seeketh after God. I ask you, do you believe? In
John 6.44, it says this, no man can come to me except the Father
which has sent me. Draw him. I ask again, do you
believe? In Romans 9 16 we read this,
so then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but
of God that showeth mercy. I ask you, do you believe? Do
you believe who he is? We read in Isaiah 9, 6, for unto
us a child is born, unto us a son is given. And the government
shall be upon his shoulder, and his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. In John 10, 29, we read this,
My Father which gave them Me is greater than all, and no man
is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and My Father
are one. And he also says in 1 John 5, 7, for there are three
that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy
Ghost, and these three are one. I ask you, do you believe? Do you believe what he did? Look
with me if you would a few pages to the right in chapter 19 of
John. Do you believe what He did, what
He accomplished? In verse 28 we read this, after
this, after the Lord had been scourged, beaten, spit upon by
those that He created in the very womb of their mother, hung
on a cross to bleed. After He had kneeled in the garden
and bled drops of blood, with the pressure of God's judgment
down upon His only begotten Son, He says this, after this, Jesus,
knowing all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled,
saith, I thirst. Can we wrap our heads around
that? God Almighty, I thirst. We see the deity of God stuck
between heaven and earth, hanging on that cross. The only way to heaven is through
this One. This One that must be lifted
up just as the serpent had to be lifted up in the days of Israel. We lift up our Lord Jesus Christ. We look to Him. Now there was a vessel in verse
29, there was set a vessel full of vinegar and they filled the
sponge with vinegar and put it upon Hyssop and put it to his
mouth. And when Jesus therefore had
received the vinegar, he said, what? It is finished. And he bowed his head and gave
up the ghost. Salvation is of the Lord, folks,
and of the Lord alone. The God of glory became flesh
for this very purpose, to glorify himself through the mercy in
saving his people. But that's not all, is it? The
story doesn't stop there. Thank God for that. Thank God
for that, that it wasn't over. I ask you one more question. Do you believe where he is and
what he's doing right now? In Hebrews 10, 12 we read, but
this man, speaking of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, our
substitute, our scapegoat, after he had offered one sacrifice
for the sins forever, he sat down on the right hand of God.
He says, I laid down my life, I will raise it up again. Wicked
hands crucified him, yes. And there's no excuse for that.
But they did it, as Mike sang in his song earlier this morning,
by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. He did
it of his own free will, the only one who has free will. Our great king, our great priest,
our mediator is interceding right now on the behalf of all of his
people. He's up there saying, Marvin, you're mine. And I'm
not going to let you go. The day is coming when you will
walk with Me. That's exactly what He's saying.
And if He's sitting on His throne now, there's no chance, Marvin,
that you're not going to be there if you belong to Him, as it is
with every one of God's people. His elect, those for whom He
is loved with an everlasting love, a people that He will have
for Himself, and He has loved them, Paul tells it this way
in Romans 8, 28. He says, for whom He did foreknow.
For those that He had known from before the world was, as it says,
for Him, for whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, Moreover, whom he did
predestinate, them he also called, and whom he called, them he also
justified, and whom he justified, them he also glorified. What
shall we say, then, to these things? If God be for us, who
can be against us?" That's talking about John Reeves
can't even be against himself. And I try really hard. I don't really try, it just comes
natural in the flesh to do those things. I actually, I wish I
could not do them, I wish I could turn from them, I want to so
badly. And it reminds me of how thankful I need to be that He
is on His throne right now making intercession for me. Think about this. Do you believe
God? Are you one of His people? This
last verse that I want to read, no, second to the last, should
just blush your socks off. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things? Isn't that wonderful? Oh, do
you believe God? Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. If the Lord has loved you from
the foundation of the world, you will believe. Once again,
I read this. John 10, 27. My sheep hear my
voice, and I know them, and they follow me, and I give unto them
eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any
man pluck them out of my hand. Amen.